Mr. Terrific

I can't believe someone else remembers this show! For twenty five years I've had a picture in my head of a portly guy in a suit talking across a desk to a skinny guy with a cape. They were in a high-rise building and the skinny guy flew out the window. I remembered he was some sort of secret agent. No one else remembered it and they thought I was thinking of Get Smart. I finally found it! I can now die in peace!

Like the previous comment, no one I know has any memory of "Mr. Terrific" whatsoever. I was five years old when this show aired, but remember that "Mr. Terrific" had to take some abnormally large pill to get his superpowers, which he kept secreted in his ring. He would make several funny faces when he swallowed it, which of course was hysterically funny to a five-year-old! He always had to wear his "flying jacket" when he flew, and he would flap his arms as he did so. Whenever his boss called for "A-C-T-I-O-N", Mr. Terrific would swallow that pill & save the day. I thought I was the only guy on Earth who remembered it!

I also remember this sitcom fondly. I remember the balding man who was the superhero's mentor. That was the man who invented the pill. Mr. Terrific pops a pill, then his face turns one color after another, then he gets super powers. I've always thought the pill was the reason this show got axed. It was a good show! But with all the pill-popping going on during the psychedelic sixties, I would imagine the network caught some blowback.

This was meant to be a spoof on the superhero genre, just as the Batman TV series of the same era was intended to be. I believe that the Batman series prompted at least two "copycats" in the fall of '67, Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice. I was only ten when these were on, but I thought they were funny. I expect, however, that adults tired of the rather juvenile humor. That may be why they only lasted a season (or less).

However, I wonder if the producers of the early '80s show, "Greatest American Hero" were somehow influenced by these programs. GAH was also a total "deconstruction" of superheroes, though the humor was much more adult and thoughtful. Just wondering...

Over the years I have brought up the subject of a guy name Stanley Beamish. My name being Stan subjected me to being called "Stanley Beamish" as a 9 year old kid back then. I was a skinny nerd type at that time myself. I loved the Mr. Terrific/Captain Nice shows while they were on the air and still wonder why they took them off the air. Over the years I was curious why no one remembered the show. I began to wonder if it was a figment of my imagination. Thank God for the information available by way of the internet. I feel like a little kid all over again just knowing that there were others who had the same curiosity. Let's send Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice into Iraq to stop the madness!